title: Mean wall thickness and formation periods of trabecular bone packets in idiopathic osteoporosis.
abstract: The mean wall thickness (MWT) and duration of formation periods (sigma f) of trabecular bone packets have been measured in iliac crest biopsies following double tetracycline labeling from 9 women having primary osteoporosis, with vertebral crush fractures and reduced trabecular bone volume (TBV), and 9 age- and sex-matched controls. The MWT of the osteoporotic biopsies was significantly less than that of the controls and was negatively correlated with age in the latter. There was also a positive correlation between MWT and TBV in the controls but not in the osteoporotics. Sigma f, in days, showed a tendency to decline with age in the control biopsies and was further decreased in the osteoporotic patients. These results suggest that a major contribution to the negative skeletal balance existing in both primary osteoporosis and physiological osteopenia is a decrease in bone formation, caused by a reduction in the life span of the osteoblastic population at the basic multicellular unit (BMU) level.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007085:Ilium / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D010012:Osteogenesis; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D013752:Tetracycline
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D013752:Tetracycline